A.J. Cole, one of the Washington Nationals' top young pitching prospects, fired a gem for the Harrisburg Senators Saturday, blanking New Britain 5-0 in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Metro Bank Park.

Cole, a 22-year-old right-hander, finished with a complete-game (seven-inning), four-hit shutout, striking out eight without a walk, as the Senators (12-27) snapped a six-game losing streak.

In holding the Rock Cats (17-22) down, Cole improved to 4-2 this season and lowered his team-best ERA to 2.25.

Michael Taylor and Cutter Dykstra homered for the Senators. For Taylor, it was his team-high ninth of the season.

Both came off New Britain starter Virgil Vasquez (2-1), who allowed all five runs but still managed to strike out nine batters in just 4.2 innings.

Caleb Ramsey finished 2-for-3 with a two-run double for Harrisburg. Though he was removed for a pinch-runner after his fifth-inning double, as he fouled a pitch off his leg one pitch earlier.

TURNING POINT

In a still scoreless game with one out in the bottom of the third, Taylor appeared to swing defensively against Vasquez. But his simply flick-of-the-wrist swing was still strong enough to deposit the ball over the left-field wall for a 1-0 lead.

Two batters later, Dykstra lined a laser over the left-field seats for his third homer of the season.

DUGOUT CHATTER

Cole on his outing: "My fastball location was working best for me. I didn't really find my curveball/slider until basically the fourth inning. It seemed to me the hitters basically eliminated that pitch. They knew I had it, but they kind of eliminated it. My changeup was working well, too, so I still had my fastball/changeup. Really the best thing was locating that fastball."

Cole on the Senators turning a corner: "You're just waiting for that one moment. We all knew from the start that our team was right there on the edge, any minute we could break out. I feel really strongly that we're just going to take off from here. I mean, we'd break out, then slump a little bit. But we're not really too worried about it because we know we have the talent here. We're a great team and play well together."

Cole on Taylor: "He's got some unreal power, just comes out of nowhere, and he's a great runner. He's always catching everything."